Goods worth millions of naira were damaged by the demolition team. But the loss would have been minimal if it was only calculated in naira and kobo. Some trigger-happy men providing cover for the demolition team fired live bullets into the midst of the already agitated and terror-stricken traders.
Unfortunately, one of the bullets hit a 10-year-old boy, Somtochukwu Ibeanusi. Traders said the innocent boy, sent for by his father, Isaiah Ibeanusi, to help with the evacuation of goods from his shop, was allegedly killed by soldiers from the 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze. Ibeanusi said that the military men shot his son at the back of his head and he died instantly.
He said: “While I was trying to remove my goods from the shop, I was
quickly alerted that my son had been shot by the army. “I quickly rushed
to the scene and I could only see my son stone dead. He was shot at the
back of his head. He died on the spot.
The Army people (military personnel) that shot the bullet did not
care, they quickly moved on.” But despite the killing,neither the
administration of Governor Rochas Okorocha nor the military had visited
the bereaved family to commiserate with the boy’s parents.Although the state Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, said that full investigation into the killing had begun. Ezike said the case file had been transferred from the Owerri Urban Police Division to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID).,nothing has been said about the killing or the outcome of the probe.
Since it is obvious that neither the state government nor the military is interested in probing the killing, we call on the Federal Government to immediately set up an independent panel to probe the killing and identify the killer(s). The panel must be made up of individuals with track record of impartiality and integrity.
Those in position of authorities today, including those who fired the
lethal shots, must realize they were once like Somtochukwu – young,
poor but with dreams. If anyone had killed them then, the Nigerian
nation would have forever lost their contributions to its growth and
development. Somtochukwu also had dreams.
Who knows what Nigeria had lost with his killing? It is in this
regard that we call for urgent but impartial probe of the orgy of
violence which led to Somtochukwu’s killing. This matter must not, in
the Nigerian parlance, be swept under the carpet.The killers must be identified and made to face the full wrath of the law. Though it cannot bring back Somtochukwu, it will serve as deterrent to others. This is the only way to check indiscriminate killing of innocent Nigerians by those paid and equipped through taxpayers’ money to protect lives and property.
It is disheartening that participants in the nation’s democratic governance are actively involved in the process to militarise the country. It is still a wonder why armed military men – soldiers and air force officers – as well as policemen should be deployed in the evacuation of traders from a market, which is and ought to be a civil matter.
It is not only in Imo State, nowadays armed military men parade every
nook and cranny of the country, performing jobs strictly reserved for
the police. It was a time in this country, in not too distant past, when
policemen were going about with batons instead of guns.
In advanced climes, policing succeeds more on the deployment of
technology than dependence on use of brutal force. It is high time
Nigerian military men – soldiers, naval and air force personnel – be
trained in the rudiments of civil engagement.
In the main time, pending the outcome of the probe of Somtochukwu’s
killing, the state government and the military hierarchy must apologise
to Nigerians on the use of maximum force during the Owerri market
demolition. Also, adequate compensation must be given to Somtochukwu’s
parents while a new shop or store should be provided for his father
since his only source of eking out a living has been blocked with the
demolition of Eke-Ukwu market.
The state government must foot the medical bill of those injured
during the shooting as well as provide them with compensation. This, we
hope, is not too much to ask for people whose only means of livelihood
has been snatched from them.
No comments: